1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a wire stripper through which cables are passed to remove a housing from the cable. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus by which a housing can be quickly removed from an entire cable with relatively little cost or effort.
2. The Background Art
There is currently a significant demand for scrap copper and other metals which can be melted down for formation into desired products. One widely available source for scrap metal is wire segments which, for a variety of reasons, are not being used. For example, a large number of pieces of copper wire are typically left over after wiring a house. Likewise, many businesses have large roles of cable which are no longer useable for a variety of reasons.
If the metal conductor in the scrap cable is to be used, the insulative housing about the conductor must be removed. Thus, many salvage yards require the housing to be stripped from the conductor before it will be accepted as scrap. To strip the housing from the cables, a wire stripping tool is usually used. This procedure is often referred to as "stripping" the wire. Those skilled in the art have also been known to refer to this art as "peeling" the cable core. The wire stripping tools that are currently in use for accomplishing this task range from sophisticated machinery to simple hand tools.
A common element in most wire stripping tools is some sort of blade to split the housing on a cable. A split housing prepares the housing for removal from the cable. However, these tools are often undesirable for quick and easy removal of vast amounts of housing from large volumes of cable. For example, if sophisticated machinery is used to remove housing from cable, the procedure is expensive. Obtaining the machinery requires significant up-front costs and maintaining the machinery in working order requires continual observation and periodic repairs. A common problem for such machinery occurs when the machinery jams from the constant influx of cable being stripped. When cable is constantly input into the machinery, the machinery jams because the stripped housing is not efficiently disposed of and the stripped housing sometimes tangles within the machinery and interferes with new cable being input therein.
Another example of problems in the art is when hand tools are used. Existing hand tools for stripping wire do not allow for quick removal of housing from cable because precise adjustments that account for wire diameter or length must be made prior to removing housing from a particular cable. Thus, an undesirable amount of time may be required to remove cable housing.
Another disadvantage of using hand tools for removing cable housing from large amounts of cable is safety. Safety is compromised when the user must manipulate a bladed hand tool in one hand and an elongate cable in the other hand. This scenario requires significant coordination and thus may be unsafe even for highly skilled users.
When in use, the available hand tools also are known to jam when large volumes of cable or wire are fed through a cable guide. This jamming occurs when the housing that is being stripped gets caught between parts of the tool or when the cable itself lodges between the parts of the tool.
Of current interest is a wire stripping tool that is inexpensive, easy to operate, safe, and designed to quickly strip housing from large volumes of cable. In view of the foregoing, it would be an advance in the art to provide a wire stripping tool that is inexpensive to build, inexpensive to operate, conducive to quick removal of cable sheathing, and designed so as to provide a smooth flow of cable through the tool.